City on Toure:

Yaya Toure's decision to join centre-half Kolo at the club meant they became the first brothers to play for City since Shaun and Bradley Wright-Phillips.

Standing at 6ft 2in, the 27-year-old was a popular figure among Barca fans and had attracted interest from a number of top clubs in the Premier League and around Europe.

Yaya, one of three footballing brothers, began his career as a youth with Ivorian side ASEC Mimosas in 1996 before he moved to Beveren aged 18 in 2001, spending two full seasons with the Belgian side before joining Ukrainian side Metalurg Donetsk in 2003.

After further spells with Olympiakos and Monaco enhanced his reputation yet further, Yaya became the first Ivorian to be signed by Barcelona who paid around £9m for his services in 2007.

Leaving the Nou Camp was no easy decision, even to join a club such as City, but Toure packed a Champions League medal and FIFA Club World Cup medal (2009). He also won La Liga twice (2008-9, 2009-10), the UEFA Super Cup (2009), and the Copa del Rey (2008-9).

After 118 appearances with the Spanish giants and almost 300 career appearances to date, City have signed one of the best midfielders in the world.

Yaya wore the No.24 shirt for Barca in honour of one of his boyhood idols, Patrick Vieira, but happily decided to wear 42 at City given that his preferred number was already occupied by his hero!

He kept the 42 shirt going into the 2011/12 season but the man who scored the winning goals in the 2010/11 FA Cup semi-final and final lost nothing of his happy knack for making key contributions at crucial moments, coming up with a brace against Newcastle in City's penultimate game of the season to put Mancini's men within touching distance of the league crown.

His spell at the 2012 African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast ended in disappointment with the "Elephants" losing a penalty shoot-out in the final of the competition but rather than discourage Yaya, it seemed to spur him on going into the final months of the league season.

In his first match back, just hours after returning from Africa, Toure set up Sergio Aguero to score an 84th minute winner against Porto, showing City just what they had been missing for the last six weeks.

Yaya limped out of the final match of the season against QPR before half-time but was seen right in the thick of the celebrations after the game - just rewards for one of City's most reliable performers.

Toure has won successive African Football of the Year prizes in 2011 and 2012 and was named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year in 2012.

He scored ten goals in 32 appearances in 2012/13 - a figure he is already well on the way to besting in 2013/14.

Yaya had his best season in sky blue in 2013/14 when he scored 24 goals, was voted third in the PFA Player of the Year and won his second Premier League title in 2013/14 and was also a Capital One Cup winner as City beat Sunderland 3-1 at Wembley.